Electrical window regulator

ABSTRACT

THIS DISCLOSURE RELATES TO A DEVICE FOR PERMITTING THE ELECTRICAL OPERATION AS WELL AS THE MECHANICAL OPERATION OF A WINDOW REGULATOR HAVING A DRIVING AXLE FOR RAISING AND LOWERING A WINDOW. SUCH DEVICE COMPRISES A SPEED REDUCING MECHANISM COUPLED TO SAID AXLE AND INCLUDING A TOOTHED DISC MOUNTED COAXIALLY WITH THE AXLE AND A PINION COUPLED TO SAID DISC. THE SPEED REDUCING MECHANISM IS COUPLED TO THE AXLE THROUGH A RING CONNECTED TO THE TOOTHED DISC AND A REMOVABLE SLEEVE INTERCONNECTING THE RING AND THE AXLE WHEREBY THE SLEEVE MAY BE REMOVED TO PERMIT MANUAL OPERATION OF THE AXLE BY MEANS OF AN AUXILLIARY HANDLE. THE PINION OF THE SPEED REDUCING MECHANISM IS DRIVEN BY A FLEXIBLE CABLE CONNECTED TO AN ELECTRIC MOTOR THROUGH A SPEED REDUCER MOUNTED ON THE SHAFT OF THE ELECTRIC MOTOR.

Jan. 19,1971: P.BOYR IVEN ELECTRICAL WINDOW REGULATOR .2 Sheets-Sheet 1 -Filed Mafch 12, 1969 //v vnvron Paa/ BOY/1V VE/V AI'I'OR/VEY Jan. 19, 1971 P. BOYRIVEN 3,555,928

ELECTRICAL WINDOW REGULATOR Filed March '12, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet a Paul BOXH/VEN ATTOR/VFY United States Patent Int. Cl. Fi6h 35/00 US. Cl. 74-625 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates to a device for permitting the electrical operation as well as the mechanical operation of a window regulator having a driving axle for raising and lowering a window. Such device comprises a speed reducing mechanism coupled to said axle and including a toothed disc mounted coaxially with the axle and a pinion coupled to said disc. The speed reducing mechanism is coupled to the axle through a ring connected to the toothed disc and a removable sleeve interconnecting the ring and the axle whereby the sleeve may be removed to permit manual operation of the axle by means of an auxiliary handle. The pinion of the speed reducing mechanism is driven by a flexible cable connected to an electric motor through a speed reducer mounted on the shaft of the electric motor.

This invention relates to a window regulator characterized by the combination of two separate speed reducing devices interconnected by a flexible cable in such a way that the shaft of the speed reducer which is mounted on the shaft of an electric motor is connected to a small pinion which is coupled to a toothed disc mounted coaxially with the driving axle of a conventional window regulator so as to permit an electrical operation thereof as well as a manual operation by means of an auxiliary handle.

The novel characteristics of the invention as well as other characteristics and advantages thereof will be better understood from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates the window regulator assembly in accordance with the invention mounted in the door of a vehicle the interior panel of which has been removed;

FIG. 2 illustrates an enlarged perspective view of the driving axle of the wndow regulator together with the speed reducing mechanism including a toothed disc and a pinion coupled thereto as well as a portion of a flexible cable which drives the pinion;

FIG. 3 illustrates an enlarged perspective view of the speed reducer mounted on the electric motor for driving the window regulator together with a portion of the flexible cable;

FIG. 4 illustrates an elevation view with a partial crosssectional view of the speed reducing device already illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 illustrates a plan view of the extremity of the driving axle of the window regulator which is coaxial with the toothed disc of the speed reducing device of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 illustrates a longitudinal section view of the speed reducing device taken along line A-A of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 illustrates a radial section view of a sleeve for coupling the driving axle of the window regulator to a ring connected to the speed reducing device; and

FIG. 8 illustrates an elevation view of the ring interconnecting the toothed disc of the speed reducing device and the above-mentioned sleeve.

In the above-mentioned figures, it may be seen that the driving axis 19 of a conventional window regulator,

which may be equipped with its usual non-reversible device called autoloc (not shown), may be combined in a novel fashion with a drum 20 which is coaxial with axle 19 and comprises a peripheral toothed disc 21 which may be coupled with a radial pinion 22 while the whole assembly is maintained in position by a casing 23 fixed on a mounting plate 24 by screws 25. Also mounted in casing 23 is second toothed disc 26 which is free to rotate and at least one auxiliary pinion 27 for the purpose of better balancing and distributing the stress on the teeth of the discs.

The axis of the radial driving pinion 22 is coupled to a flexible cable by means of coupling claws 28 which are covered by an elastic sleeve 29. The rotatable flexible cable 30 is made in a known fashion by crossed plies of steel wires contained in a sheath 31 which is also flexible. The elastic sleeve 29 which, in the above-mentioned assembly, covers the radial pinion 22 and the heart of flexible cable 30 is for the purpose of preventing the formation of noise. It must also be noted that, in order to reduce noise, the flexible cable 30 rotates at a speed which is intermediate between the speed of electric motor 32 and that of the axle 19 of the window regulator due to the addition of a second speed reducing device 33 which is connected between the motor 32 and the flexible cable 31, such second speed reducer 33 being preferably of a straight-gearing type. In this regard, it is to be understood that the double speed reduction is novel and advantageous because it reduces frictions and noise without permitting the torque transmitted in one direction or the other to exceed its possibilities.

The coupling between the axle 19 of the window regulator and toothed disc 21 of drum 20 is ensured by a ring 31 illustrated in FIG. 8. The outside projections of ring 34 engage corresponding slots in drum 20 while the inside opening 36 thereof engages corresponding flat portions 37 of coupling sleeve 38 illustrated in FIG. 7. The inside chuck 39 of sleeve 38 is arranged to engage corresponding grooves of the driving axle 19 of the window regulator such as illustrated at 40 in FIG. 5. Finally, sleeve 38 is free to rotate with respect to screw 41, which is threaded on the end 42 of the driving axle 19, because of the setting of screw 41 in crown 43 of sleeve 38 in such a way as to ensure the mounting and the locking of the assembly.

It is easy to understand that, because of the mutual engagement of the means disclosed and illustrated above, it is sufficient to energize electric motor 32 in a known fashion to make it rotate in the usual way in one direction or the other to ensure the rotation of the heart 30 of the flexible cable at a reduced speed by means of speed reducer 33 and to consequently ensure the rotation of pinion 22 at a reduced speed whatever may be the distance and the relative position of these elements.

It is also easy to understand that the rotation in one direction or the other of pinion 22 will equally drive in one direction or the other, without any risk of non-reversal, the toothed disc 21 at a speed which is further reduced by the ratio of the number of teeth of the pinion 22 with respect to the toothed disc 21, in such a way as to drive with a speed and a suitable torque the axle 19 of the window regulator which is coaxial thereto, because of the mutual interaction of these elements by the combined effect of the coupling ring 34 and of the corresponding sleeve 38.

Furthermore, because sleeve 38 may be removed by unscrewing screw 41 which is retained in position by annular setting 43, it is possible, in case of failure of the electric motor 32, to replace sleeve 38 by a conventional handle having a central chuck which may be adapted to grooves 40 of axle 19 to provide a manual control without any interference of such manual control with the opening 36 of the coupling ring 34.

Finally, while it may be obvious, .it is understood that the present invention is not limited to the combination of means explicitly disclosed and illustrated as a simple embodiment of the invention and that, on the contrary, the field of the invention covers various embodiments using one or several means which are equivalent or comparable for application to automobile window regulators of all types. As an example of such equivalent means, it may be mentioned that the coupling devices may be of the conical type and that the coupling pinion disclosed which is of the coupling claw type could be of any known type such as the conical type. It may also be mentioned that the invention could also be used in combination with limit switches.

I claim:

1. A device permitting the electrical operation as well as the manual operation of a window regulator having a driving axle for raising or lowering a window comprising a speed reducing mechanism including a toothed disc mounted coaxially with said axle, a radial pinion coupled to said toothed disc, electrical means for remotely driving said pinion, and removable means for coupling said toothed disc to said axle thereby permitting replacement of said coupling means by an auxiliary handle for manual driving of said axle.

2. A device as defined in claim 1, further comprising a casing enclosing said speed reducing mechanism, a second toothed disc also mounted in said casing coaxially with said first toothed disc, and at least one pinion rotatably mounted in said casing and coupled to said second toothed disc for balancing and distributing the stress applied to said speed reducing mechanism.

3. A device such as defined in claim 1, wherein said speed reducing mechanism is coupled to said axle through a ring connected to said first toothed disc and a removable sleeve coupled between said ring and said axle, whereby said sleeve may be removed to permit manual operation of said axle by means of said axiliary handle.

4. A device as defined in claim 1, wherein the remote rotation of said pinion is affected by means of a flexible cable and wherein said electrical driving means is an electric motor, and further comprising a speed reducer interconnecting said motor to said flexible cable to reduce friction and noise without permitting the torque transmitted to exceed its possibilities.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 11/l956 Rossmann et al. 74-625 6/1959 Katzen et al 642 

